


Placing the Moon

by VR_Trakowski



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-19
Updated: 2012-10-19
Packaged: 2017-11-16 14:41:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/540567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VR_Trakowski/pseuds/VR_Trakowski
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What we do for love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Следуя за луной](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7702846) by [fandomRetellingsCrossovers2016](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomRetellingsCrossovers2016/pseuds/fandomRetellingsCrossovers2016), [Protego_Maxima](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Protego_Maxima/pseuds/Protego_Maxima)



> The characters and situations in this story belong to J.K. Rowling, Scholastic, Warner Brothers, Kermit the Frog's alter ego, Henson Associates, Lucasfilm, Christopher Nolan, Legendary Pictures, Syncopy, and (deep breath) other entities, and I do not have permission to borrow them. All others belong to me, and if you want to play with them you have to ask me first. No infringement is intended in any way, and this story is not for profit. Any errors are mine, all mine, no you can't have any. 
> 
> Still new to this fandom; still assuming that it's all been done already. Any unoriginality is accidental. 
> 
> Another crack!fic. My muse apparently has a mild obsession with this particular sort of crossover. I will love Cincoflex forever for encouraging me instead of telling me the whole thing was insane, and she schooled this one carefully--and designed the beautiful banner! However, this has not been Britpicked, so please forgive any blatant Americanisms. 
> 
> Notes on the riddles can be found on my journals under the Production Notes tag; see the note at the end for credit.

 

 

'I still don't understand.'

Lily rolled her eyes. 'I already _told_ you. I messed up. I wished for Tuney to disappear, and she _did_.'

Her friend snickered. 'No, I mean, why do you want to get her _back_?'

'Sev, that's _mean_!' Lily smacked his shoulder, and he laughed harder, black eyes lit. She couldn't help but grin back. She was the only one who could make him laugh like that, and it made her feel special. 'She's my sister. I have to get her back or my parents will _kill_ me.'

Sev sighed theatrically. 'I suppose. Though I don't know why even goblins want Tuney. They only like gold and stuff.'

'Different kind of goblins.' Lily folded her arms and stared at the moonlit meadow. This was the spot where she'd wished Tuney away; this was the place she had to start. 'Anyway, I don't know how long it will take to find her, so if I don't come back by morning—'

'Hey, I'm going with you!' Sev looked outraged at the thought of being left behind.

'You can't. It has to be just me.' Lily closed her eyes, reaching for the power she was just beginning to understand. There had to be a way, in the stories there was always a way—

'Yes I can.' She could hear the stubborn note in his voice, but she was too busy concentrating to deal with it. She could _feel_ it, the gap between ordinary things beginning to part for her. It was difficult, asking her without words, was she really _sure_?

_She's my sister._ And as annoying as Tuney could be, Lily loved her. Because they _were_ sisters, after all.

_There._ The gap widened, just enough. Lily ran forward.

The hard fingers grabbing her wrist weren't enough to stop her, and she slipped through—

—And it wasn't a damp Saturday night in England any more, it was someplace hot and dusty and sunny and _different_ , and down below the hill she was standing on was the Labyrinth.

It was _huge_.

Lily's heart quailed, but before she could think about the impossibility of what she had to do, Sev's really bad word distracted her.

' _Sev!'_ She rounded on him, yanking her wrist from his grasp. 'I told you you couldn't come!'

'Yeah, but you were wrong,' he pointed out with his usual arrogance. 'Besides, you might need help.'

Lily huffed, but the truth was she was scared, really scared, and having Sev there made her braver. Plus, she didn't know how to send him back anyway. 'Okay…but you have to do what I say, Sev. Because if we mess up, I'll never get Tuney back.'

'I get it.' He shoved his hair out of his eyes and squinted down at the Labyrinth. 'She's in _there_?'

'No, in the big castle at the top.' Lily pointed. 'We have to get _through_ there.'

'Huh.' He frowned, then shrugged his thin shoulders. 'C'mon then. Race you to the bottom.'

They pelted down the dusty hill, laughing; Sev had longer legs, but Lily was fast, and unless it was a long race it was usually an even contest, and they ended up at bottom at about the same time, breathless and red-faced.

The sight of the wall close up sobered them. It was much taller than they, and half-covered in twining roses; and there was no sign of a gate.

'How do we get in?' Sev asked, almost whispering.

'Yes, indeed…how?' said a strange voice, haughty and cold, and both of them jumped. Right in front of them, where nobody had been just a second before, stood a tall, tall man.

Lily gaped up at him. He had streaky blond hair like a dandelion and strange, cold eyes, and he looked down at them over folded arms like he'd just caught them breaking _all_ the rules. Her hand reached for Sev's, and the man's nose wrinkled. 'Ah. Moppets.'

'Who are you?' Sev asked, sounding haughty himself, and Lily squeezed his hand warningly; whoever the man was, he was probably not somebody they should annoy.

The man made a mocking bow. 'Jareth, the Goblin King. I take it one of you has wished away an irritating sibling?'

Guilt swamped Lily, and she bit her lip. 'I…I did. M-my sister.'

'She'd be the one snivelling in my castle, then,' the King said in a bored voice. 'Well, I'm sure you know the rules. Find your way to my castle beyond the Goblin City before the clock strikes thirteen, or your sister stays with me…forever.'

The way he said the last word made Lily shiver, but she lifted her chin and stared back at him. 'Sev's coming with me.'

The King barely glanced at Sev, which Lily knew would just make her friend madder. 'If you're going to bring along help, then perhaps you don't need thirteen hours.' His voice was silky and colder than ever, and Lily felt panic rising in her stomach.

'Actually, you should give us _more_ time,' Sev said, sounding almost as bored though his fingers were pinching hers much too tight. 'Because we're little.'

The King laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound. 'Oh, not so little as all that. But…perhaps you're right.' He lifted a finger, and a clock appeared in the air next to him, showing thirteen hours instead of twelve. 'I'll just take away three hours instead of six.'

Lily watched in horror as the hands spun forward, stopping at thirteen and three. 'But that's not fair!'

' _Fair_ has nothing to do with it,' the King said nastily. 'If you're wise, moppets, you'll give up now and go home.'

Lily glared at him. 'I'm not leaving my sister.'

The King shrugged. 'Then you have ten hours. Use them well…' As he said the last word, he simply faded away, disappearing like smoke. Lily shivered, hard.

'Creepy,' Sev said, letting her hand go. 'The least he could have done was tell us how to get in.'

Lily sniffed. 'We're smart, we can figure it out on our own.' She looked both ways to where the wall stretched away into the distance, but she couldn't see anything that looked like a gate. It was hard to tell, though, between the roses on the wall and the brush growing up against it in places. 'Maybe we should each go one way…'

'No!' Sev bit his lip. 'No, we shouldn't get separated.'

'I guess you're right. That's what they always say on telly, anyway.' Lily put her hands on her hips and frowned. 'But we have to pick a direction.'

Sev stuck his hands in his pockets. 'If we had brooms, we could just _fly_ over.'

'We don't have brooms,' Lily pointed out practically. 'And anyway, I think that might be cheating.'

' _He_ cheated,' Sev said grumpily. 'I say we go left.'

'Mm.' Slowly, Lily backed away from the wall, trying to get a better look at it. 'I think…'

Sev frowned. 'What?'

'I think the gate is right around here somewhere. It would be pretty stupid to have the starting place be on top of the hill and the gate be around the other side, wouldn't it?'

'But there's nothing here.' Sev gestured at the wall. 'It's all the same.'

'Didn't you say that magic doesn't always look like what it is?' Lily glanced over her shoulder to see where the hill was, and then looked back at the wall.

'This isn't _magic_ ,' Sev grumbled. 'This is something else.'

'Different kind of magic.' Lily decided she needed to lend him another book of fairy tales—if she made him read it in their tree fort, his Da couldn't rip it up. She lined up angles in her head, then walked over to her chosen spot and knocked on the wall.

The wall split in two and swung open, nearly knocking her down as it did so. They both yelped, scrambling backwards, but nothing horrible emerged—all they saw was another wall a few yards away.

The two of them exchanged glances and crept forward. The pavement of the Labyrinth was cracked and weedy, as if long abandoned, and the roses were as thick on the inner side of the wall as the outer. The new wall extended as far as they could see in either direction, and as they edged inside, the doors slammed shut behind them with an echoing boom.

They spun around. The wall was smooth; there was no sign that there had ever been doors there. Lily heard Sev swallow hard, but she merely lifted her chin once more. _I wasn't going back anyway. Not without Tuney._

'Which way?' she asked Sev, turning completely around to look in both directions.

'Doesn't make much difference, does it?' He kicked away a dead branch lying on the ground. 'Both directions look the same.'

Lily reached into her pocket, fumbled among the collection of treasures she kept there, and pulled out a 5p coin. 'Cross we go right, pile we go left.'

Sev didn't object, so she set the coin on her thumb and flipped it—too hard. It spun wildly into the air and out of her reach, landing on the ground and rolling away. Lily made a snatch for it, and lost her balance, tumbling forward. She screwed her eyes shut, bracing herself for impact with the inner wall, but instead she kept falling, smacking down onto the ground with a small cry.

'Lily!' In an instant Sev was there, crouching next to her with huge eyes. 'Are you all right?'

Embarrassed, she pushed herself up. 'I'm fine.' Spotting the coin next to her, she grabbed it, ears burning. Nothing really hurt, but she felt really _stupid_.

'You found it,' Sev said in a hushed tone, and she looked up.

'What do you… _oh!_ '

The wall she'd expected to hit was still there, but it was set back from the inner wall by another few feet so cleverly that it looked like it was part of it. It formed a niche on one side, and on the other was a narrow opening that led further into the Labyrinth. But both would have been invisible to anyone standing just a metre or so away.

'This place is _sneaky_ ,' Sev said admiringly.

'It's a pain in the arse,' Lily snapped, daring to use a word that would have gotten her punished at home. Huffing, she stood up and dusted herself off.

Sev laughed and pulled a twig out of her hair. 'Come on.'

The two of them slipped through the gap in the hidden wall. Beyond Lily saw lumpy, battered pillars perhaps twice her height, and tight, high stone walls—a maze within the Labyrinth. They stepped cautiously inside.

Lily didn't like it. The maze felt dead, like something forgotten, and she kind of wanted to hold Sev's hand again, but she didn't want him to think she was being a coward. 'Which way should we go?'

'Wait,' Sev said thoughtfully, and bit his lip, obviously thinking. 'I'm trying to remember...'

'Remember what?'

Sev nodded once, as if agreeing with something inside his own head. 'We need to go this way. Stick to the right-hand wall.'

'Why?' Lily asked.

'Because that way we won't get lost.'

It didn't really make sense to her, but having a pattern sounded like a good idea. Lily shrugged, and followed him.

It was creepy. She kept her eyes on the path in front of them, afraid that if she looked behind them she would see something whipping out of sight. The path twisted and turned, and they passed gap after gap in the walls, but Lily never saw anything through them but more pillars and walls.

'D'you think we're going in circles?' she asked at last. Everything looked the _same._

'I dunno.' Sev frowned. 'I'll check.'

He shimmied up one of the stone pillars to look around, while Lily put her back to the nearest wall and pretended she wasn't getting scared.

'We're not getting any closer,' Sev said, dropping back down to the ground. 'It's weird, it's like we're not going in the direction it looks like we're going.'

'Maybe we should go back,' Lily said nervously. 'And try going down that long bit inside the wall.'

Sev shook his head. 'Not yet.'

They kept going. Lily wished she had some thread like the guy in the old myth, but it would take a _lot_ of thread to get through someplace this big, and all she had anyway was her shoelaces. Which she sort of needed to keep her shoes on.

The turns they were making started to get closer together, until all of a sudden Sev halted, and Lily nearly bumped into him. 'What?'

'It's the middle,' he said. 'We made it to the middle.'

'No, we're supposed to get _through!_ ' Lily tugged on her own hair in frustration.

'No,' Sev countered, staring at the pillar in the centre of the little space he'd stopped at. 'No, I think this is the way.'

Lily opened her mouth to argue, but before she could think of what to say, he reached out and touched the pillar, pushing lightly at a knob of stone. Under his fingers, a door opened within the pillar, swinging inwards and revealing a dark space.

Sev threw a grin at her over his shoulder. 'See? It leads you here. This is the way out.'

'But it goes underground!' Lily sputtered. Sev ignored her and stuck his head into the opening, then carefully climbed inside.

'There's a ladder. Come on!' He began descending.

Lily wanted to scream, but he was already disappearing, and she _couldn't_ leave him. Or drag him back out. 'Sev, no, come back!'

'It's not hard.' His voice drifted back up, already echoing, and Lily bit her lip…and followed.

The light from above ran out quickly, but the walls around them seemed to have some sparkling glow embedded in them, just enough for her to make out the rungs of the ladder they were climbing down. They seemed to go down forever, and her hands and arms were aching by the time she heard Sev's feet crunching on solid ground.

As soon as she was down too, she whirled on him. 'I said you had to do what _I_ said!'

His grin faded and he looked down. 'Sorry. But—' When he lifted his head he was wearing the stubborn look she knew very well. 'I was _right,_ Lily. This is the way out of the maze.'

Lily huffed, but she wasn't sure he was wrong. 'It's a tunnel.'

'It's three tunnels,' Sev corrected, pointing into the shadows. 'They go three different directions.'

'So how do we choose?' Lily peered uneasily at the openings she could barely see.

Sev hesitated, then pointed at the middle one. 'That one goes towards the castle...I think.'

Lily set her jaw. 'I hope it's not dark all the way.' She marched forward.

The tunnel wasn't quite wide enough for them to walk side by side, but Sev was close behind her as she stepped cautiously into it. It was dark the first few metres, but gradually the walls began to sparkle, and it was enough light to keep them from stumbling on the pebbly ground.

The tunnel didn't stay straight; it twisted and turned until Lily hadn't any idea which direction they were actually going. It was hard to tell how much time passed, either, but she thought they had been walking at least half an hour when the tunnel abruptly ended in a shadowy little room.

One with a ladder leading upwards, and two tunnel openings besides the one they'd just come out of.

Behind her, Sev groaned. 'It led us right back!'

Lily felt like saying another bad word, but she couldn't think of anything she would actually have the courage to speak. 'I guess we have to try the third one.'

Sev sighed heavily. 'Sneaky,' he repeated, but he didn't sound as admiring anymore.

The third tunnel curved gently back and forth, going up and down at times, and they kept seeing little things skittering past. To Lily they looked like dust-bunnies with feathers stuck in, kind of cute, but they moved too fast to catch.

Finally, when her feet were starting to hurt, the tunnel sloped upward and got brighter, and eventually they saw daylight, filtering greenly through heavy vines. They pushed the tendrils aside and stepped out onto a cobbled road, one that was bounded by stone walls on either side.

The road stretched on towards a hill in the far distance. Behind them came a squelching sound, and Lily whirled to see a snail almost as tall as she was gliding towards them. It had an iridescent shell and eye-stalks with blue lashes, and on the lip of the shell behind its head sat a creature that looked kind of like a fox with wings for arms, wearing a top hat. ''Ello there,' the creature said. 'Out of the way now.'

Sev and Lily exchanged glances and stepped back. The snail kept sliding forward, and Lily was reminded of the big one in the Doctor Dolittle books, though this one didn't have a see-through shell. ''Eaded for the Castle, are you?' the creature asked, and Lily nodded.

'The King has my sister,' she said.

'Does he now.' The creature blinked beady eyes. 'Well, now…I could take you there in a flash.'

'On a snail?' Sev asked, snickering.

The creature bared needly teeth at him. 'This 'ere's the fastest gastropod in the whole Labyrinth!'

Lily shook her head at Sev quickly. Nothing in the Labyrinth was as it seemed, and if the creature was offering to help them…

'What's the price?' Lily asked.

'Just a lock of your pretty hair,' it replied, looking more amiable.

Lily never thought of her hair as _pretty_ —it was far too orange for that—but if that was all the creature wanted it seemed fair. 'All right,' she said hesitantly. 'Sev, give me your knife.'

Sev fumbled in his pocket for the old clasp knife he always carried, though his expression was suspicious. Lily took the blade, looking the snail over anxiously. 'Is your snail big enough for both of us?'

The creature made a delicate snorting noise. 'Oh, no, missy, I only said I'd take _you._ Don't want nothin' to do with that rude critter.'

Sev flushed indignantly. Lily glared at him, shaking her head again. 'You can have some of his hair too. Or more of mine—' The thought of having to cut off two hanks was a little disturbing, but she didn't see that she had much choice.

'You an' you only,' the creature said firmly. 'Get you to the castle faster than a fairy's nip, I can.'

Lily bit her lip hard. To get there so easily, so fast—this whole thing could be over and all of them safe, but—

Sev's flush had gone, leaving him greenish instead. 'No! Lily, you can't go without me.'

His voice was angry, but he looked more frightened than upset. Lily frowned. 'I wouldn't be long, Sev, I'd just get Tuney and then we could go straight home! No more wandering around trying not to get lost.'

' _No.'_ His fists clenched. 'You _can't_. Anything could happen!'

The creature chuckled, leaning forward to pat the snail's neck with one claw. 'Make up your mind, missy, we ain't got all day.'

Lily hesitated. If she turned the creature down, and ran out of time—

' _Please!'_ Sev's voice was painful to hear. 'Please, Lily, don't…don't leave me.'

She met his eyes across the snail's glistening head, and felt her stomach twist at the terror he was trying to hide. It reminded her of the time she'd found him hiding in the bushes of the park because his father had thrown him out of the house; of the way he'd tried to push her away, then clung to her hand so hard that her fingers had been sore for a day.

_I can't, I can't hurt him._

Stepping around the snail, she took his hand firmly, then turned back to the creature. 'Thank you,' she said politely. 'But we're in this together.'

The creature snorted. 'Can't say I didn't try.' It raised its hat to her. 'Best of luck to you then—'

Before she could nod back, it whistled, and in a flash the snail was racing away, vanishing down the road and out of sight.

'Wow. It really _is_ a fast snail.' Lily shook her head.

Sev let out a shaky breath next to her. He was still pale, and she could feel his fingers trembling where they were laced with hers. He was staring at the ground, and Lily could tell he was embarrassed.

She squeezed his hand gently. 'We're in this together,' she repeated. 'Since you tagged along, anyway.'

His head came up at that, indignant. 'You need me!'

Lily grinned at him. 'Yes. And you need me. Now come on.'

The road kept going for what seemed like miles, though the hill gradually drew closer. As they walked, Lily saw more of the feathery dust-bunnies rolling past, appearing and disappearing through cracks in the walls or pavement, but the only other signs of life were the weeds growing through the pavement and the vines that clung to some of the walls.

Lily's feet were beginning to hurt when she heard something squeaking. She stopped, and Sev stopped too, glancing around. 'What is it?'

'I don't know.' Lily cocked her head, trying to hear better. 'Something…sad.'

The squeak _was_ sad; it sounded lost and lonely. Lily stepped forward quietly, trying to track it, and then a round object she had assumed was a stone _moved._

She stopped as the round shape—smaller than a football—uncurled. It was a pale grey, with bulging eyes and a wide mouth, but it reminded her of nothing so much as a woodlouse.

'What is _that?_ ' Sev asked, disgusted.

'I don't know.' Lily crouched down for a better look, and the creature opened its mouth and wailed faintly, looking utterly helpless. 'But I think it's a baby.'

'It's revolting.' He shifted from one foot to the other, but made no other move. Lily set her jaw; apparently he remembered the one time she'd punched him, for throwing stones at a cat. He'd promised never to do anything like it again…

She had to admit that Sev was right, however. The thing was hairless, with a few warty protuberances on its back; if it had feet, she couldn't see them. It wasn't slimy, but it looked as though it might be if it weren't so dusty.

It wailed again, plaintively. Lily heaved a sigh; at least it didn't seem to have any teeth. Gritting her own, she reached out and picked it up, ignoring Sev's repulsed noise.

It was heavy, and it _did_ have feet—short, flat ones that kicked as she lifted it. But it didn't struggle. She sat back on her heels and set it gingerly on her lap; it didn't jump off, just ducked its head in a slow rhythm.

Lily pulled off her worn cardigan—she was hot from walking anyway—and tied the arms together, then bundled the creature into the makeshift sling before ducking her head and shoulder through the sleeves' loop. 'You're taking it _with_ us?' came Sev's voice from behind her.

'It's lost, Sev, it doesn't belong here.' She stood, settling the lump above her left hip. The creature didn't seem bothered; it had curled up again and stopped whimpering.

Sev shook his head. 'You're mad,' he commented, but he didn't argue. Lily lifted her chin and set off down the road again.

In fact, she kind of agreed with him. She had no idea what kind of creature it was, nor where it did belong, and it really was ugly.

_But I can't just leave it there, all lost and unhappy._ Maybe they could find someone who could tell her where it was supposed to go.

They kept walking. Unfortunately, they were still some distance from the hill when the road ended in a crosswise wall. There was a small door set into it, and the two of them looked at each other before Lily shrugged and tried the latch.

It lifted easily, and they stepped out into an old forest, the trees widely spaced and very tall. She glanced back, and just as the doors to the Labyrinth had, the little door disappeared behind them.

'I wonder where we are,' Sev said, looking around. 'I couldn't see any trees over the top of the wall.'

'I wonder where the _castle_ is,' Lily said. 'We can't see it from here—how do we know which way to go?'

'I can climb a tree.' Sev tilted back a little to look upwards. 'I should be able to see the whole Labyrinth from up there!'

But when he reached up to the lowest branch on the nearest tree, it lifted up with a creak and he missed his grab. 'Hey!' He jumped, but it was still out of reach.

'Maybe try another one?' Lily suggested. 'Perhaps that one just doesn't like climbers.' It was weird to be saying that when the tree had just _moved_ on its own, but it was pretty obvious that things were different here.

'I guess,' Sev said, but as he stepped away from the massive trunk the forest erupted in groans. All around them, the other trees were raising their lowest branches.

Sev scowled and ran at the next nearest tree, jumping as high as he could and almost catching the branch.

'Don't!' Lily darted forward and caught his arm. All she could think of was the apple trees in _The Wizard of Oz_.

'Why not?' he demanded, shaking off her grip.

'Because they're bigger than you.' Lily glared at him. 'What if you got all the way to the top and it decided to drop you?'

'Oh.' He deflated. 'Oh. Right.'

Lily thought for a minute, then tilted her head to look up at the tree again. 'Excuse me,' she said politely. 'Which way is the castle?'

With another groan, the tree moved one branch, pointing. Lily bobbed nervously. 'Thank you very much.' She grabbed Sev's hand again. 'Come on.'

They scooted off in the direction the branch was pointing. The forest was dark and felt really old, though the ground was mostly moss and it was easy to walk. The trees were wide enough apart that they could walk in a straight line, though Lily kept glancing back over her shoulder as long as the first tree was in sight, just to make sure.

As they went, they could hear birds singing in the canopy overhead—ridiculously long songs that sounded vaguely familiar—but they never saw even one bird. The only other sign of life was a herd of what looked like deer made out of silver light, grazing far away from their path; they were very beautiful, but they paid no attention to the children at all.

When they had got well out of sight of their starting point, Sev pursed his lips. 'How do you know the tree was telling the truth?'

Lily blinked. It had never occurred to her to think otherwise. 'Um…why would it lie?'

He gave her a scathing look. 'Why would it tell the _truth_?'

She couldn't think of an answer for that, but she glared right back. 'You answer first.'

'Because we're not supposed to get to the castle in time,' Sev said immediately. 'Why would the tree be on our side?'

'Because I was polite to it?' Lily knew it was a weak argument, but it was the best she had. 'Besides, what else are we going to do? Just wander around?'

He tilted his head. 'I suppose…'

'We can't decide really until we can see where we're going.' Lily marched on more quickly. 'And that means we have to get out of here first.'

Sev let her hand go and made a rude gesture at the nearest tree. 'I'm tired of walking.'

The creak this time was louder, and more ominous. Lily felt leaves brush past her face as a huge limb swept low to the ground, catching up Sev and lifting him high overhead. He yelled, flailing, and Lily screamed. _No!_

The branch passed him to another, almost tossing him through the air. Lily started to run as the trees handed Sev off to one another, all his struggles in vain, but she couldn't keep up. 'No, please, put him down, he didn't mean it!' she shrieked, but the trees paid her no attention at all.

Still she kept running, as fast as she could, watching his little figure get further away, hearing his shouts dying into the distance. And then she kept running because it was all she could think of to do, until she could run no further.

Lily cried for a long time, her face buried in the moss of the forest floor. She didn't know where Sev was or even if he was all right, she didn't know where _she_ was; Tuney was still trapped with that horrid Goblin King, and though Lily didn't know what time it was she knew her hours were running out. But eventually tears and breath ran out too, and she rolled over to look blearily up at the canopy of leaves high overhead, scarcely conscious of the heavy lump of the cardigan sling next to her.

'He's like that,' she muttered at the silent trees around her. 'He just is. He's nice, really, underneath.' _He's nice to me._

It was something she accepted about Sev without really thinking about it, the same way she knew his life at home was unhappy without really knowing why. He was angry a lot of the time, and it showed in rudeness and mean words and occasionally fighting, but though he and Lily argued sometimes he was never, ever, mean to _her._

Sometimes she scolded him about it, but underneath she had a vague feeling that his miserable life was kind of an excuse. _Me and Mum, we're about the only ones who are ever nice to him. It's no wonder he's…the way he is._

But, like it had in the past, his behaviour had brought trouble, and now he was _gone_ and she was all alone, with two people to rescue instead of one and no idea how to find either of them.

Lily almost started crying again out of sheer hopelessness, but instead she mopped her face on her shirt and took a deep breath. _Heroes in stories don't give up. I'm not giving up._

She stood up. The round creature hadn't uncurled, and when Lily peered into the sling it was giving off a tiny whistle that she eventually decided was a snore. Her headlong rush through the forest had to have jounced it, but it didn't seem to care.

She had no idea, now, which way the tree had pointed, and she didn't have the courage to ask again. Lily lifted her chin, and started walking in the direction the trees had taken Sev.

She didn't find him. She found the end of the forest—a grey wall just a little taller than her, over which some of the trees leaned but which showed blue sky beyond. Lily thought about going back in, but the truth was he could be _anywhere_ , and she didn't know which way to go.

She had to jump to grab the top of the wall, but she managed to scramble up. One leg on either side, she looked up and up at the nearest tree figuring that she could slip down the other side and run if she had to. 'Excuse me,' she said sadly. 'Which way is my friend?'

The tree didn't snatch at her. Instead, it slowly pointed one branch…over the wall and away from the forest.

_How do you know it's telling the truth?_

'Thank you,' Lily said, and jumped down.

The other side of the wall was laid out like a parquet floor, big black and white tiles enclosed in more of the same wall. Lily stared down at it, and realised that half the squares held round flat things, about the size of a serving platter. _It's a draughts board,_ she thought slowly. _And…I'm one of the pieces._ Looking across the floor, she saw the opposite pieces in position.

She tried to step to the next square, but she couldn't move. For an instant she panicked— _what if I'm stuck forever!_ —but her next thought was of _Through the Looking-Glass_. And she was in the second row.

But no one seemed to be playing the game. _Maybe…maybe I have to start it._ After a few minutes—it was hard to think through her worry about Sev—Lily lifted a cautious hand and pointed at one of the pieces on her side. 'You—go there.'

The piece immediately slid into place. Within seconds, another piece edged out on the other side.

Lily felt herself start to grin. She liked draughts—and she was very, very good at it, especially after all the games with sneaky Sev, even if he liked chess better. Straightening, she pointed at another piece. 'You, _there._ '

The game didn't take long; her invisible opponent was a good player, but not good enough. Lily kinged herself by stepping onto a piece, and enjoyed the way it glided when she wanted it to go; she was almost sorry when the game was finished. But when she won, the wall at the far end of the floor swung open, and she walked through.

She was desperately worried about both Sev and her sister, but she couldn't think what else to do besides go on. _Sev's tough,_ she told herself. _He can take care of himself._ Hadn't he told her just that many times?

_And Tuney can't manage by herself._ Her sister might be older, but she didn't handle weird very well. That King had probably sent her into hysterics just by looking at her.

The opening in the wall led to a marsh thick with cattails and dragonflies. It took Lily several minutes to realise that the dragonflies were actually tiny dragons, and she thought about trying to catch one, but they were spitting infinitesimal flames at one another and it didn't seem like a good idea.

She skirted the edge of the marsh carefully. Mud stained her trainers, but they hadn't exactly been clean to begin with; Lily was more worried about quicksand, or crocodiles, or—what had Sev called them? Hinkypunks.

Nothing appeared, though; there were burbles and hoots out in the water, but the reeds grew tall and she couldn't see what might be making them. Lily kept one hand on the wall that bordered the marsh, hopping over the occasional puddle and wondering how far she would have to go to reach the end of it.

Then her foot slid on a patch of mud, and she fell forward, landing on her hands and knees with a squelch.

_Eww._

Lily scrambled up quickly, disgusted with the mud clinging to her palms and shins, though it smelled weedy rather than rank. She rubbed her hands on the rough wall, trying to scrape the mud off, and jumped when she heard a now-familiar wail.

'What?' she demanded of her rescued creature. Its weight had made her shoulder sore, but it had at least been quiet; now it was squirming and flailing, trying to get out of the sling.

Alarmed, Lily fished it out, afraid that it would tumble to the ground, and then nearly dropped it herself when it put out a long tongue and began licking the mud from her palms.

'Are you hungry?' she asked. It wailed at her again, sounding more urgent than lonely now. 'Do you eat mud?'

A gurgling, rumbling roar sounded from just beyond the reeds, and Lily almost screamed. But the creature in her hands writhed, feet paddling frantically, and wailed in response.

Lily set it down hastily, not wanting whatever was out there to come through the reeds and find her holding…its baby? The creature, freed, barrelled clumsily forward, leaving flappy tracks in the mud, and disappeared into the reeds, still wailing. Lily hesitated, not sure what to do, but a moment later the wails and the roars blended and then ebbed into a bubbly purr. Splashes sounded, and the water rippled and lapped at the mud at her feet. The purr died away, and the only sound left was the dragonflies hissing at one another.

_I guess that was its mum._ Bemused, Lily wiped off more mud and untied her cardigan's sleeves, though the garment was stretched into shapelessness. She knotted it around her waist and kept walking. _I wonder how it got so far from home._

The marsh eventually ended in yet another wall, though this one had an opening that was barred by nothing at all. Beyond was a green lawn, and Lily slipped through, relieved to leave the marsh behind, but when she looked up she gasped and ran forward. Beyond the lawn and the wall rose tier on tier of funny, close-packed little houses—the Goblin City. And crowning them was the fantastic edifice of the castle—

The tall figure appeared so suddenly that Lily almost ran smack into him. She stumbled back and fell, landing hard on her bottom. 'Well, well, well,' the King said softly. 'What an enterprising little moppet you are.'

Lily peered up at him through her disheveled hair, frightened all over again. He was grinning at her, but it was a really nasty grin. 'Have you lost your friend so soon?'

Lily scrambled to her feet, determined not to show him how much he scared her. 'I'm going to find him too.'

'Oh, I doubt that,' the King said, looking bored. 'Once the Labyrinth has claimed someone, it keeps them. I'm more concerned by how far you've come already.'

_Already?_ Lily felt her spirits lifting. Maybe she wasn't as low on time as she thought she was. 'I have to get my sister back,' she said firmly.

'Yes, yes, so they all say.' His eyes narrowed as he stared down at her. 'It seems to me, moppet, that someone has been…helping you. How else could you have got here so quickly?'

Lily bit her lip. She didn't think he meant Sev, but the only other help she'd gotten had been from the tree…or maybe more than one tree, if they'd taken Sev on a path towards the city.

She put the idea aside for later, half-afraid that the King could read it in her face. 'Nobody's been helping me,' she said, crossing her fingers behind her back and thinking firmly that a tree wasn't a _person_ , exactly.

'I think we both know that's not true,' he said, leaning down to stare right at her. 'Who is it, moppet? I don't like traitors…'

Lily was mesmerised by his strange long eyes, not human eyes at all. She seemed to see tiny flames within them, tiny flames burning tiny trees, and she gulped in horror at the thought of the whole forest going up in a rush of fire. 'Nobody said anything to me,' she whispered, which was the strict truth.

For a long moment his gaze held hers, and then he straightened with a growl. 'I think you're lying, Lily. But never mind, I'll find the one who helped you…and make sure they never help another soul.'

He was so tall and scary, and so unfair. Her fear turned to anger, and Lily glared up at him. 'You're mean!'

The King rubbed his chin, nasty grin reappearing. 'Insolence! Little flower, you're a fool as well as a liar.'

'I don't care.' She folded her arms. 'And don't call me that.' It was her father's term for his daughters, and _no one else_ was allowed to use it.

He laughed. 'You stand here, in my Labyrinth, and defy me? Do you know what I could do to you with a word?'

'I don't _care_.' Lily all but spat the words at him, too angry to be wary. 'An' what's so special about your Labyrinth? I've got this far even without my friend, and your castle is right there!' She pointed up the steep slope.

'So near and yet so far,' the King said, voice suddenly smooth. 'Yes, perhaps you're right and you require more of a challenge.'

'A—wait—' It dawned on Lily that perhaps she should have kept her mouth closed, but it was too late. The King pulled a tiny jewelled box out of nowhere, flipped it open and extracted a pinch of what looked like dust, and blew the fine powder at her.

Lily screamed as a huge wind picked her up and blew her away.


	2. Part 2

The wind was dusty, and Lily kept her eyes screwed tightly shut against it, so she couldn't see what was happening. But she was tumbling around and around in the air, almost like the time she'd got caught in the surf at the beach—out of control. It was impossible to tell where she was, and it was all she could do to keep from yelling again.

And then it stopped, and she felt herself falling. She _did_ yell, eyes popping open, but all she saw was a spinning blur of brown and grey before she smacked into something soft.

The breath was knocked from her lungs at the impact, and Lily tumbled further down, hearing clanks and rattles and thumps as she rolled. Finally she came to a halt on what felt like level ground, and the sounds died away.

For a few minutes she just lay still, sprawled on her back, and gasped in air. It took a lot of blinking to get her eyes to focus, and when they did she realised she was looking up at a cloudy grey sky.

She pushed cautiously up into a sitting position and looked around. _Wow…_

It was an enormous scrapyard. All around her were huge piles of trash and junk, towering far above her head; cans and bottles, paper, broken furniture, wooden wheels, sinks and tubs and jars, old clothes and toys, battered toasters and blenders…everywhere she looked there was something different and useless. There was scarcely space between the heaps for someone to walk. In the gaps, though, she could see other piles.

 _Am I even still in the Labyrinth?_ A scrapyard seemed sort of a strange thing to have in one, but then throwing her out of the Labyrinth entirely seemed to Lily like a violation of the rules. _But I bet I'm lots further from the Goblin City now._

She wanted to be angry, but between her bruises and the way the clouds overhead seemed to press down on her, Lily felt tired and grumpy instead. She got up and tried to brush off the dirt that clung to her clothes without much success, though the wind had at least dried the mud, and then took another look at her surroundings.

There wasn't much noise, just a faint breeze that occasionally tinkled or rattled some piece of junk, and far away crunches that made her think there might be someone else—several someones—in the scrapyard as well. But she couldn't find the energy to be frightened.

The first thing to do, Lily decided, was to see if she could spot the Goblin City. But climbing up one of the heaps, she discovered, was much more difficult than sliding down one; every time she tried, she couldn't make it much higher than her own head before the pile just sort of crumbled. That was, if she could find enough grips to climb it in the first place.

But she kept trying, wandering from heap to heap, looking for a way up. In the distance she caught glimpses of something moving, but they were too far away to really make out, and Lily just didn't want to bother chasing one down.

Finally she found a pile that was firm enough that when she braced an old metal bedstead against it she could climb at least partway up. It was hard to see around the heaps, but she craned her neck and leaned out so far that she almost lost her grip—and was rewarded. Off in the far distance, where the clouds broke at the horizon, was a glimpse of the hill she'd been so close to just a little while before.

The situation demanded a worse word than the one she'd dared before, one she'd only heard bad kids use. _'Bugger.'_

Immediately she felt guilty, but also sort of relieved. Scrambling down from her makeshift ladder, Lily set off towards the faraway hill, marching determinedly around the nearest heap.

And ran smack into someone. Or some _thing_. Lily wasn't quite sure, because it squealed like something alive but _looked_ like a small pile of trash. She jumped back, and the thing lurched around, and then she saw two cloudy eyes in a tiny wrinkled face. 'Oi!' the creature squeaked. 'Gerroff!'

It looked kind of like a goblin, Lily decided, but it was carrying the pile of trash on its back like a bizarre turtle. The…person?…was bent so low that its head was scarcely higher than Lily's chest, and it was glaring at her. _They_ were glaring at her, she noticed; there were two more just beyond the one she'd bumped into.

'I'm sorry,' she managed. 'I didn't know you were here.'

The person hmphed. 'Young people, no manners,' it said in a whiny voice, and shuffled back around. 'Always so busy, rushing here and there…'

The others muttered in what sounded like agreement. They were pulling pieces of trash from the heaps around them and piling them in one spot, but they were all so hampered by the burdens on their backs that they were very slow. Curious, Lily stood on tiptoes for a closer look at what they were doing.

 _Something_ lay beneath the odd bits of junk, but she couldn't make out what it was—until she spotted the pale hand, fingers limp, barely protruding from beneath the remains of a water-spotted textbook.

Lily shrieked. Diving around the junk-person, she pawed at the debris, throwing trash aside without caring where it fell. Cries of outrage rose around her, but she paid them no attention, scooping aside old shoes, a flashlight, half-burned curtains, and other things she couldn't identify. Slowly Sev's motionless form appeared, eyes closed and face smudged with dirt.

'No, no.' One of the junk-people was poking at her arm. 'Don't bother, missy, it's dead. Got to cover it up, forget about it.'

'No!' Lily gasped, shoving a last piece of cardboard out of the way. 'No, he's not, he can't be! Sev! Sev, wake _up!_ '

He didn't move, but when she pressed her ear to his chest she felt it rise and fall slowly. A little of her panic subsided, but she shook Sev and poked him and his eyelids didn't even twitch.

'No manners,' the junk-people grumbled, and began stumping away. 'It's dead, it's dead...'

Lily sat back on her heels, ignoring the vanishing voices and staring down at Sev. _What do I do?_

She couldn't leave him; and she couldn't possibly carry him. 'Sev,' she said quietly, not expecting a response. 'Sev, wake up, you're scaring me.'

Lily still remembered the first time he'd spoken to her, though she'd seen him in the neighbourhood before. He'd been so awkward, and she hadn't liked him much, but he'd told her wonderful stories and then proved they were _true._

And now he was her best friend that she couldn't imagine doing without, and she could no more leave him here than she could leave Tuney behind in the castle. Lily felt a few more tears slide out of her eyes, and she smeared them away with a grubby hand. 'It's not fair,' she whispered.

_But this is the way it is._

Sev looked so vulnerable. He was spiky most of the time, pretending like he was never hurt or frightened, even though she knew quite well that sometimes he _was_. Now all his armour was gone, and Lily wanted so much to protect him, defend him.

_What would a hero do?_

The answer was obvious, and she brightened. 'Of course!'

Leaning down, she pressed her lips to his.

She meant it to be a quick touch, but his skin was warm and really very soft, and the moment seemed to hold her there in a bubble of silence, the first time she'd ever kissed a boy and somehow significant.

Then she heard him draw in a deeper breath, and she sat back hastily, feeling her cheeks start to burn. Sev's eyes fluttered open, dark and dazed. 'Mmph—Lily?'

She laughed for pure joy. 'You're awake! Are you all right?'

He blinked, then sat up slowly. 'I—I think so.'

He was staring at her so hard that Lily drew back a little. 'Is something wrong?'

'You, er, you have something on your cheek.' He gestured, and Lily, remembering her tears, rubbed hastily at her hot skin.

'This place is really dirty. Sev, what _happened?_ The trees took you and I couldn't keep up—'

He blinked once more and seemed to settle into himself. 'I'm not sure; they kept throwing me around and I was too dizzy to see, and then I was falling. After that…' He shrugged. 'You woke me up.'

'Whew.' Lily shook her head. 'It was really lucky I found you.'

'Yeah—where _are_ we?' Sev rubbed his arms slowly, looking around.

'A scrapyard.' Lily grimaced. 'The King sent me here, but I think I know how to get back.' She scrambled to her feet and held out a hand. 'Are you ready?'

Sev's face had no expression at all, which usually meant he was thinking very hard. He stared up at her for one more moment, then reached up and let her pull him up. 'Let's go.' He gave her a grin. 'Why did the King send you back here?'

She told him the story as they wended their way out of the scrapyard. It was bounded by yet another of the Labyrinth's endless walls, curving gently back and forth like a ribbon, and they walked a little way back from it so that they could keep an eye on the castle-crowned hill so far away.

So they didn't see the gate at once—not until its guardian heaved to its feet.

The sight halted them both in their tracks, and Lily's groping hand found Sev's reaching for hers. The dog was as tall as a bus, standing, and it had three heads. Lily would have been even more alarmed if they weren't all panting cheerfully and pausing to scratch one of six ears with a hind leg.

The gate was all but hidden behind the dog's bulk. Lily wondered if there was another way out of the scrapyard, but before she could look around it—they?—began barking happily, huge tail thumping the ground until she could feel the tremble through the soles of her trainers.

'Hello!' all three heads barked. 'Hello! Goody, goody!'

It sounded so _friendly_. Lily took a step closer, towing Sev with her, though he didn't hang back. 'Hello?'

The dog sat, one hind leg cocked crookedly. It was mostly black and tan, with some white spots, and beside her Sev coughed, because the new position showed that it was most definitely a boy dog. 'Hello!' it said again, this time with the left-hand head.

The Evans family didn't have a dog, but their next-door neighbours did, and Lily had spent many happy hours tossing a ball for Bess-the-Beagle. The three heads didn't look like a beagle's, exactly, but all six eyes were warm and all three jaws gaped in the doggy equivalent of a smile. Lily took a deep breath and walked right up to it.

'Hello,' she said again. 'Um, can we go through?'

'I have three riddles!' the dog's middle head said cheerfully. 'If you answer them, you may pass!'

 _Riddles?_ Lily's heart sank. She wasn't good at riddles. _But I have to try._

Sev was regarding the dog with interest. Lily braced herself. 'Okay…go ahead.'

The right head spoke in a voice that didn't sound doggy at all. 'To hide the heavens' rulers, and put the light away, find a day without a night, and a night without a day.'

Lily's throat closed. She'd never even heard of a riddle like that, and panic bloomed in her middle. _A day without a night? That's impossible!_ Her mind scrambled for an answer, but she couldn't think of a thing. _I don't know, I don't know—should I guess? But—_

She felt her face growing hot, the precursor to tears, but then Sev spoke up, his voice crisp and confident. 'An eclipse.'

'Rrrright!' the head woofed, and tongues lolled all around. Lily whipped around to stare at her friend, who was gazing up at the dog with the wide-eyed, intent look he only got when he had a _really_ interesting puzzle to work on.

'Sev! How did you know that?'

He grinned briefly at her, exhilarated and smug. 'I'm good at riddles.'

The left head pricked its ears. 'You cannot escape me, nor send me away; I'm kin to the night but my home is the day. I'm never there, yet unswervingly true; a complete blank but a model of you.'

Sev frowned hard, but he only hesitated a moment. 'My shadow.'

'Right! Right! Right!' the head barked happily. Lily shook her own head in amazement.

'Last one!' the middle head said. 'Fifty is my first, nothing is my second; a snake will make my third, then three parts a cross is reckoned. Now to find my name, fit my parts together; I am all your past, and you fear me in cold weather.'

Sev thought for so long that Lily's breath grew shallow with fear; what if he couldn't answer this one? But then his eyes widened, and he looked up at the dog and spoke, voice harsh. _'Lost.'_

All three heads pointed their snouts at the sky and howled joyfully. Lily threw her arms around her friend and hugged him hard, ignoring the way he stiffened for a moment. 'Sev, you _did_ it!'

His return hug was a little too tight, but she was too happy to care. 'Yeah, I did.' He smiled wonderingly, as if he hadn't believed that he could.

'Pass through! Pass through!' the heads shouted, and the dog danced out of the way, kicking the gate open with its hind leg. Lily let Sev go and ran forward, then paused long enough to reach up.

The right-hand head obligingly lowered itself far enough for her to scratch behind the nearest ear, and sighed in bliss. Lily ignored the blast of dog-breath. 'Thank you,' she said.

'I'm a _good_ dog!' the middle head said happily.

The land beyond the scrapyard was meadow surrounded by young woods, which soon changed to shallow gorges with streams running down them, and then to a wide expanse of sand. They wandered on and on, making for a hill they couldn't always see in the distance. Lily gave up wondering how much time had passed; there was no way to tell, and she just had to have faith that they would reach Tuney in time.

Sev trudged along beside her, quieter than usual. His misadventure with the trees seemed to have cowed him somewhat, and Lily worried a little, but there wasn't much she could do about it, and finding Tuney was more important just then.

The way was always strange, and almost never straight. They had to dodge through a field of goblins playing an insane game of football—the ball looked disturbingly like a severed head—and pick their way across stepping stones in a lake populated with singing, flaming birds. There were huge furry creatures with scary horns and tusks, though fortunately they stayed far away; there were tiny winged people that fluttered around the flowers and screamed at them if they came too near.

And the hill drew closer, though very slowly.

The sun was getting low and orange when they found the road. It had no walls, and swung back and forth in gentle curves, looping upwards to a high wall halfway up a slope. The Goblin City's roofs weren't visible, but the pointy tops of the castle just poked over.

'Too easy,' Sev muttered, squinting upwards, but Lily ignored him.

'Come on, we're almost out of time!' She took off running, putting her head down and pushing hard, and she heard the thump of Sev's battered shoes behind her. But when she lifted her head they were no closer to the city—not one yard.

It was _infuriating._ No matter how fast they ran, they went nowhere. Lily tried and tried, even when Sev gave up and stood still, but her legs ached and burned and her breath came hard for nothing.

The tears were hot in her throat and eyes. Lily flung herself into the soft grass by the side of the impossible road, and wept.

'Lily—' Sev's voice was as hesitant as the hand he placed on her back, but she was sobbing too hard to answer him. Part of her wished he'd go away and forget he'd seen her cry, and part of her wanted a hug. 'Lily, don't. Maybe—maybe there's another way in.'

But he didn't sound like he believed it. Lily cried harder. _Petunia—my sister—what am I going to tell Mum and Da? What will happen to her here? She'll have to stay here forever and it's my fault—_

'Who are _you?_ ' Sev's voice was sharp, almost frightened. Lily rolled over quickly, smearing her wet face against her sleeve, and blinked in surprise, because the woman standing next to them was almost… _ordinary._

She looked like Snow White, Lily thought—pale skin, dark hair, and red lips, though she was scarcely taller than either of them. She was wearing the sort of dress that Lily thought of as a princess gown, and when she smiled, it was a friendly expression.

'My name is Ariadne, and I live here.' Her accent was strange, a drawl Lily had heard on the telly—Canadian.

Lily swallowed, her throat raw from crying. 'Ariadne…isn't that like the spider woman?'

The woman grinned a little. 'You're thinking of Arachne. Ariadne was the mistress of mazes.'

'Oh.' Lily nodded; it had been a long time since she'd read that book. 'I'm Lily and this is Sev.'

'Don't!' Sev hissed. 'You don't know if you can trust her.'

Lily rolled her eyes. 'Sev. She's _nice_.'

The woman looked from one of them to the other. 'Lily…and Sev. Well.' For an instant she almost looked sad. 'I'm glad to meet you both.'

'If you live here, can you take us to the castle?' Sev asked suspiciously.

'That would be breaking the rules. But I can point you in the right direction.' Ariadne brushed her hair back, and Lily sighed a little in admiration. She was _so_ pretty. 'This part of the Labyrinth is backwards, like a mirror. To get close, you have to go away.'

Lily frowned. 'What do you mean?'

Ariadne jerked her thumb back the way they'd come. 'Go that way, and you'll end up where you want to go.'

'That doesn't make any sense,' Sev objected.

Lily agreed, but she was too tired and worried to argue. 'Okay.' She pushed to her feet and brushed at her clothes, though by this point they were so grubby it didn't seem to make any difference.

Sev stood too, still glaring at Ariadne. 'Why are you helping us?'

Ariadne cocked a brow. 'I'm not helping _you_ , kid, I'm helping _her._ Because—' She turned to face Lily. '—You took the baby home.'

 _Oh._ Lily blinked again. 'You saw that?'

Ariadne grinned. 'I see a lot of things. Now hurry, the sun's almost set.'

Lily glanced over her shoulder, suddenly afraid. 'What if I'm out of time already?'

The woman shook her head. 'You're not—there are rules. Time is a funny thing, especially in the Labyrinth.' Now she really _was_ sad, though Lily couldn't see why. 'Listen, I want you to remember something, okay?' She looked right at Sev. 'There's always room for second chances.'

Sev's brow wrinkled, but if Ariadne's statement made any sense to him it didn't show. The woman winked, smiling again, and…simply faded away.

'That was weird,' Sev said grumpily.

'Yeah.' Lily didn't have time to debate it. She grabbed his hand, took a deep breath, and ran _away_ from the castle.

Five steps later, they were running through a huge gate, into a tiny, shadowy street lined with houses that looked as if they were built for children. There was no one around, except for more of the tumbling dust-bunnies and a few perfectly common chickens, but Lily felt like eyes were watching them from the shutter-bound windows.

'Uphill,' Sev ordered, sounding winded, and they ran and ran, hands linked, always seeking the steepest slope amongst the dusty, cobbled streets.

The last one ended at a thick wall barred by another gate, but when Lily reached out to push they swung open at her touch.

The castle was as dirty as the city, and cold to boot. Sev's hand was so tight that Lily's fingers ached, but she wasn't going to complain. It was _creepy;_ if she'd felt eyes on her before, the sensation was tripled now, and they weren't friendly eyes.

Arched hallways led to a sort of multi-level room, one thick with trash and drippy candles, but Lily scarcely saw them—the clock on the wall fixed her attention. It was just a few minutes before the hour—the thirteenth hour.

' _Tuney?'_ Her shout echoed forlornly, but no answer came back. And then Sev gasped.

She turned to look. The weird horseshoe-shaped chair that had been empty a moment before was now occupied. The Goblin King sat sideways in it, legs propped up and a sneer on his face.

And at the foot of the throne sat Tuney. She was asleep or unconscious, head lolling back; her dress was smudged with dirt and her hair was tangled, but beneath the snarls was her familiar impatient frown.

Lily's heart turned over. She let go of Sev's hand and dashed forward, but the shallow steps down to the sunken space in the middle of the room vanished, revealing a dark pit that belched forth a nasty smell and an echoing howl.

Lily teetered on the edge, arms windmilling, and for an icy second she was sure she was going to topple into that endless blackness. But then a small strong hand fastened onto the back of her shirt and yanked her backwards.

'Careful,' Sev said lowly, backing them both away a step or two. 'This is going to be hard.'

'He's quite right,' the King said lazily, smirking at them. 'Did you think I would make it _simple?_ '

Lily thought back over all the trouble and danger of their journey to the castle, the King's casual cruelty, the time she thought she'd _lost_ Sev, and she wanted to scream at him. But that wouldn't help Tuney. She took a deep breath. 'Give me back my sister.'

'Why?' The King swung his legs off the seat and stood gracefully, propping his hands on his hips. 'She's petty and annoying and always thinks she knows best. Why do you want her back?'

Lily gaped at him, astonished by the question. 'She's my _sister._ '

The King rolled his eyes. 'As if that made the slightest bit of difference.' He stepped forward, onto the empty air above the pit, and it held him up as if he walked on solid ground. 'She's a thorn in your side, little flower, a killjoy who will always try to ruin your happiness because she cannot have it for herself.'

Behind Lily Sev snorted, and she knew he agreed with the King. In fact, Lily knew she kind of did too; Tuney wasn't always very nice. But—

'She's my sister,' she repeated firmly.

'You said that already.' The King folded his arms and looked bored.

Lily stared at him and struggled to find the right words, and an echo of her mother's voice drifted up from memory. 'We're _family._ We're supposed to love each other even when we don't always like each other.' She tilted up her chin. 'Give her _back_.'

'Are you sure?' the King asked, with another nasty smile. 'Wouldn't you rather I kept her? I can always use more goblins, you know…and she'd be no more unhappy here than back where she belongs.'

His voice deepened, and for once he looked completely serious. 'Your bossy sister _is_ a goblin at heart,' he said. 'Greedy and selfish and petty. Lily, leave her with me, and grow up free. Your parents will forget, in time, and remember only in dreams. And _you_ can have a life unspoiled by her meanness.'

His words were so soft, so very _tempting_. Lily knew exactly what the King meant; sometimes it seemed like she had no joy that Tuney did not try to spoil.

But there were good times, too, shared games and giggles, whispered secrets and a bar of chocolate split exactly down the middle. And while the small mean part of her murmured that the King deserved to have to deal with an unhappy Tuney, it just wouldn't be _fair._

Lily didn't know how to make the King give her sister back. But she had to try.

She glanced back at Sev, who was staring at them both, wide-eyed and frozen. But his hand, dangling at his side, twitched, and Lily saw that he had two fingers extended. Two, and then three.

_Things in stories come in threes._

She pulled back her shoulders, and summoned all of her determination. The King's face darkened. 'Lily…' he said warningly, sounding terrifyingly _adult,_ but Lily pulled in a huge breath.

'I don't have to listen to you!' she shouted. _'Give me back my sister!'_

The flash of light half-blinded her. The King vanished in a puff of smoke, and a rattling _boom_ echoed off the walls and down the bottomless shaft in front of them. Beneath their feet, the floor quivered threateningly, and dust sifted down from the ceiling.

And across the pit, Tuney moaned and stirred.

Lily dodged around the gap so quickly that her shoes skidded on the worn stone. The castle was groaning around them, the walls shifting as if the whole place was going to come down around their ears, but Lily only had eyes for her sister. She flung herself onto the floor next to Petunia, patting the dirty face frantically. 'Tuney? Tuney, can you hear me?'

Petunia moaned again, but her eyes didn't open. Behind her, Sev muttered a bad word and came around to crouch on Tuney's other side. 'If we each take an arm I think we can pick her up.'

It took some tugging, but they got Tuney up between them, one limp arm around each of their necks, though she still seemed mostly unconscious. Sev looked around, scowling. 'We must get out of here.'

As if to defy his words, the castle shook harder, and the passage they'd used to enter collapsed in a roar of blocks and dust. Lily coughed, looking around. 'The windows?'

Sev shoved Tuney unceremoniously into Lily's arms and dashed to the nearest one, only to shake his head grimly. 'Too far down.'

Lily staggered a little under her sister's weight, squeezing her eyes shut. _There has to be a way out. In the stories, there's always a way out._

… _Oh, no._

'It's the pit, Sev,' she said, struggling to be heard over the rumble of disintegrating stone. 'We have to jump.'

Sev's face screwed up in a mix of disgust and disbelief. 'Down _there?_ '

Lily took a firmer grip on Tuney. 'I told you, it's magic.'

He huffed, but came back and took Petunia's arm again, bracing Lily's slipping grasp. 'Are you _sure?_ '

Lily tilted her head at the shivering ceiling. 'Do you want to stay _here?_ '

Sev scrunched up his nose, but nodded, and together they stepped towards the pit.

' _Wait.'_

Everything stopped—the noise, the shaking, the very dust. The silence was suddenly deafening, and Lily and Sev halted at the edge of the drop.

The King had returned, standing on the far side once more, their positions reversed. He held a long stick in his hand, one that Lily recognised after a moment as a riding crop, and his sneer was back. But this time his gaze was fixed on Sev.

'Your friend has won her sister back,' he said softly. 'But Severus, you made it through my Labyrinth too, and you have not claimed a prize.'

Sev stiffened, staring back just as haughtily. 'I don't want one.'

'But you deserve one.' The King paced slowly around the edge of the pit, never taking his eyes from Sev. 'I can hardly let you leave unrewarded; that would be breaking the rules.'

'I—I don't want anything.' Sev's voice was hard but thin, and Lily saw him blink as the King drew near. 'I just want to go home.'

'Home to what?' the King said, even more quietly. 'To a father who beats you, a mother who scorns you? To hunger and dirt and privation? To harsh words and cruelties?' Slowly, he raised the crop until the tip nudged under Sev's chin. 'Here is what I offer you, Severus, descendant of Princes. Stay here, with me.'

Lily felt as frozen as the castle, unable to speak or move, though her whole heart seemed to shriek in protest. Sev said nothing, and the King smiled, the twisted, half-bitter smile they'd seen before. 'Stay here,' he murmured, and Sev swallowed. 'I will make you a prince in truth—give you power beyond even your mother's dreams, and set you beside me to rule. Stay here, and be my heir…my chosen one.'

Sev's eyes were huge and dark, and Lily knew. He was _tempted._ She couldn't blame him; the King's words were true, though the knowledge made her feel ill. Sev's life really was awful.

And the King meant it. That mask-like face was open now, as fixed on Sev as Sev's was on him, and the small voice in her head whispered wonderingly, _is he_ _ **lonely**_ _?_

As if she'd spoken, Sev's head turned slow and stiff to look at her over Tuney's drooping head. Lily could read the question in his gaze as clear as anything.

 _You should tell him to stay._ The Labyrinth would be a better home than the one he had now, and the King could hardly be _worse_ ; staying would mean giving up every bit of his old life, but he would be safe and possibly even happy.

But she would never see him again. Ever.

Sev's eyes were growing desperate. Lily tried to swallow, and couldn't; she couldn't speak.

She shook her head, a tiny movement back and forth. Small and frightened and _selfish_ , but definite.

The expression that flashed over Sev's face went too quickly for her to make it out, but it looked oddly _happy_. He turned back to face the King, and drew himself up. 'No. But thank you,' he added hastily.

Lily was afraid that the King would argue further, but instead the crop's tip fell away and the King stepped backward, looking frustrated. 'Be certain,' he said harshly. 'For if you leave my realm now, you may never return.'

Sev looked at him, then hitched Tuney's arm higher. 'We're going home,' he said firmly.

The King actually rolled his eyes, stepping backward again to once more stand on the empty air above the pit. 'Then _go!_ '

He gestured sharply, and a wind came out of nowhere, shoving them all towards the lip of the abyss. The King disappeared, the castle rumbled and groaned, and all three of them slid gracelessly over the edge, dropping down with a shriek and a yell and—

—tumbling to a dusty, dew-wet stop on the same meadow Lily and Sev had left all those strange hours ago.

It didn't look as though any time had passed; the moon was still in the same position, and it felt like the same spring evening, half-past supper-time. The moment when Lily had wished Tuney away with the goblins seemed long ago, though it had been just that afternoon.

On the far side of Tuney's prone body, Sev levered himself onto his elbows and looked around. 'I think we're back.'

Before Lily could answer, Petunia moaned and rolled over, and Sev scooted hastily out of the way. Lily grabbed at her sister's hand. 'Tuney?'

Petunia's eyes opened, and she stared blankly up at the sky. 'What…what…what happened?'

Lily's grin was so wide it hurt. 'Oh, Tuney, are you all right?'

Her sister blinked rapidly. 'My _head_ hurts. And what's that smell?'

'You don't remember what happened?' Sev's voice was challenging, but Tuney didn't seem to notice.

'We were playing…' she said, sounding puzzled and petulant. 'Did I fall asleep? I dreamt of _monsters_.'

Lily felt a huge wash of relief. If Tuney didn't remember the goblins or the Labyrinth, things would be _so_ much easier.

Lily's gaze met Sev's, and they silently agreed. 'You _fainted,_ ' she said, sounding as awed as possible. 'Right in the middle of the game.' If Tuney didn't remember the infuriating argument that had led Lily to make her stupid wish, all the better.

'I did?' Tuney blinked again, and Lily could see the idea taking hold. 'I fainted? Really?'

'Really,' Lily confirmed, and sat back on her heels and watched as Petunia's sense of drama kicked in. On Tuney's other side, Sev rolled his eyes, but he was smirking.

In the end, it was he who ran to the Evans' house to fetch help, though Lily suspected it was more to get away from Tuney's hysterics. She stayed with her sister, patiently enduring the fuss, knowing that it was mostly deliberate. Tuney adored attention, and being sick was one of her favourite ways to get it.

Within the hour, Tuney was tucked up in bed and enjoying the attentions of both her parents. Lily took the opportunity to slip out into the garden, grateful for the escape.

As she'd expected, Sev was waiting on the other side of the gate, mostly hidden in the cool spring darkness but the dingy white of his shirt giving him away. Lily shivered a little and pulled her cardigan tighter around herself, and stepped up to the other side, giving him a smile as he raised his brows.

'Oh, she's in bed,' Lily said in answer to his silent question. 'Mum and Da are looking after her.'

Sev snorted. 'Bet she's chuffed.'

Lily shrugged, amused. 'Come on, after spending time with that nasty King, don't you think she sort of deserves it?'

Sev didn't answer. He shifted from one foot to the other, eyes gleaming a little as they caught the light from the streetlamp. 'It really happened, didn't it?'

Lily pursed her lips. 'Of course it did. Aren't you the expert on magic?'

Sev shook his head, stepping up to the gate. 'That wasn't magic like I know.'

He was watching her, like he always did, but there was something different in his expression now, and it took her a little while to work it out. _He doesn't look so worried any more._ 'Are you going to tell your mother about it?'

He shook his head again. Lily gave a silent sigh. _He needs looking after._

It was a familiar feeling, though she'd never put it into words before. Lily remembered those last few minutes, how Sev had waited for her before making his choice to leave the Labyrinth. _I guess…it's kind of up to me then._

It was a good thought. Lily lifted her chin, then stepped forward herself, until she was almost pressed against the gate's other side. 'Sev…why did you come back?'

He cocked his head, regarding her, and then smiled the slow sweet smile that she almost never saw. Lifting one hand, Sev touched her cheek, and Lily held very still, as if he might be startled away if she moved.

'Someday, I'll tell you,' he said softly. 'I promise.'

And then the back door opened and Lily's mother called her name, and Sev vanished into the darkness.

Lily grinned. _You'd better,_ she thought, and turned to go back inside.

 

 

_Fifty is my first,_

_Nothing is my second,_

_Five just makes my third,_

_My fourth a vowel is reckoned._

_Now to find my name,_

_Fit my parts together,_

_I die if I get cold,_

_But never fear cold weather._

**Author's Note:**

> Riddles: _Fifty is my first_ is from Kit Williams' strange and gorgeous _Masquerade. A day without a night and a night without a day_ is from _Ladyhawke_ , but I made up the first part. 
> 
> The shadow riddle is entirely my own invention.


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